Rawson Thurber To Rewrite 'The Umbrella Academy' For Universal

Dodgeball director Rawson Thurber is rewriting The Umbrella Academy for Universal Pictures, based on the 2008 Eisner Award-winning Dark Horse comic written by My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way. Mark Bomback wrote the first draft.

The comic revolves around an adopted dysfunctional family of superheroes with bizarre powers who are brought together by a mentor. As children, they defeat the Eiffel Tower when it’s turned into a laser-spewing structure by a zombie robot. In later installments of the comic, the kids disband but reunite as adults after their mentor is killed.

It’s the second Dark Horse property at Universal, which will begin production on RIPD in September. Dark Horse’s Mike Richardson will produce with Scott Stuber and his Stuber Films banner. Pam Abdy will oversee the project for Stuber and also produce. The author and Dark Horse’s Keith Goldberg are executive producers. Thurber’s repped by CAA.